title: Antiviral activities of Indonesian medicinal plants in the East Java region against hepatitis C virus.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major cause of liver disease and a potential cause of substantial morbidity and mortality worldwide. The overall prevalence of HCV infection is 2%, representing 120 million people worldwide. Current standard treatment using pegylated interferon and ribavirin is effective in only 50% of the patients infected with HCV genotype 1, and is associated with significant side effects. Therefore, it is still of importance to develop new drugs for treatment of HCV. Antiviral substances obtained from natural products, including medicinal plants, are potentially good targets to study. In this study, we evaluated Indonesian medicinal plants for their anti-HCV activities.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ethanol extracts of 21 samples derived from 17 species of medicinal plants explored in the East Java region were tested. Anti-HCV activities were determined by a cell culture method using Huh7.5 cells and HCV strains of 9 different genotypes (1a to 7a, 1b and 2b).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four of the 21 samples tested showed antiviral activities against HCV: Toona sureni leaves (TSL) with 50% inhibitory concentrations (IC50) of 13.9 and 2.0 μg/ml against the HCV J6/JFH1-P47 and -P1 strains, respectively, Melicope latifolia leaves (MLL) with IC50 of 3.5 and 2.1 μg/ml, respectively, Melanolepis multiglandulosa stem (MMS) with IC50 of 17.1 and 6.2 μg/ml, respectively, and Ficus fistulosa leaves (FFL) with IC50 of 15.0 and 5.7 μg/ml, respectively. Time-of-addition experiments revealed that TSL and MLL inhibited both at the entry and post-entry steps while MMS and FFL principally at the entry step. TSL and MLL inhibited all of 11 HCV strains of all the genotypes tested to the same extent. On the other hand, FFL showed significantly weaker inhibitory activities against the HCV genotype 1a strain, and MMS against the HCV strains of genotypes 2b and 7a to a lesser extent, compared to the other HCV genotypes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Ethanol extracts of TSL, MLL, MMS and FFL showed antiviral activities against all the HCV genotypes tested with the exception that some genotype(s) showed significant resistance to FFL and to MMS to a lesser extent. These plant extracts may be good candidates for the development of anti-HCV drugs.
authors.forename: Tutik Sri
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Wahyuni
authors.forename: Lydia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tumewu
authors.forename: Adita Ayu
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Permanasari
authors.forename: Evhy
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Apriani
authors.forename: Myrna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Adianti
authors.forename: Abdul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rahman
authors.forename: Aty
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Widyawaruyanti
authors.forename: Maria Inge
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Lusida
authors.forename: Achmad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fuad
authors.lastname: Soetjipto
authors.lastname: Nasronudin
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fuchino
authors.forename: Nobuo
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kawahara
authors.forename: Ikuo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Shoji
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: Chie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Aoki
authors.forename: Hak
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hotta
mesh_terms: D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002460:Cell Line; D005838:Genotype; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000145:classification / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007214:Indonesia; D020128:Inhibitory Concentration 50; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000737:chemistry*; D014776:Virus Cultivation
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D010936:Plant Extracts